• Welcome to the Pipe Organ Forum! This is a part of the open community Magle International Music Forums focused on pipe organs (also known as "church organs"), organists, organ music and related topics.

    This forum is intended to be a friendly place where technically advanced organists and beginners (or even non-organists) can feel comfortable having discussions and asking questions. We learn by reading and asking questions, and it is hoped that the beginners (or non-organists) will feel free to ask even the simplest questions, and that the more advanced organists will patiently answer these questions. On the other hand, we encourage complex, technical discussions of technique, music, organ-building, etc. The opinions and observations of a diverse group of people from around the world should prove to be interesting and stimulating to all of us.

    As pipe organ discussions can sometimes become lively, it should be pointed out that this is an open forum. Statements made here are the opinion of the poster, and not necessarily that of the forum itself, its administrator, or its moderators.

    In order to post a new topic - or reply to existing ones - you may join and become a member by clicking on Register New User. It's completely free and only requires a working email address (in order to confirm your registration - it will never be given away!). We strive to make this a friendly and informative forum for anyone interested in pipe organs and organ music.

    (Note: If you wish to link to and promote your own website please read this thread first.)

    Many kind regards
    smile.gif

    Frederik Magle
    Administrator

    Krummhorn
    Co-Administrator

Fagotto 16

Bach>Meer

New member
Hi all

Is there any way to imitate the sound of a fagotto 16 for use as a pedal reed. I have clarinet 8, trumpet 8, trombone 16, oboe 8 and cornopean 8 on my instrument. Is the trombone a suitable replacement or is it too loud?

thanks
Kevin
 

pcnd5584

New member
You are probably the best judge of that. For anyone who has not heard your church instrument in the building in which it stands, any opinion would be pure conjecture.

Clearly the 8ft. reeds are non-starters, other than providing various types of reed tone. Trombone stops can vary enormously. That on my own church instrument is an old Walker stop, with wooden resonators, which speaks on around 85mm pressure. The Pedal Trombone at Okehampton Parish Church (Devon), has metal resonators and is voiced on approximately 150mm pressure. This stop is both loud and full-toned. The Pedal Trombone at Exeter Cathedral has metal resonators, open shallots and speaks on a pressure of approximately 375mm pressure. However, each stop produces an effect which seems right in its environment. A Fagotto is often quieter than a Trombone; however, it depends on many factors - not least the builder and voicer of the instrument in question, the acoustic properties of the building, the stop-list of the instrument, wind pressures, pipe materials, the type of shallots and tongues used and several other things.

A number of builders provide 16ft. Swell reeds called Contra Fagotto; however, again there are almost as many examples as there are organs - even those by the same builder.

What do you want to achieve? Are you intending to use it to underpin a chorus? If so, what type of music do you intend to play?

If you want to do something along the lines of what I have described above, try it and, either listen to the effect in the church or, if this is not possible, try to find some way of obtaining a reasonable recording of the sound on your instrument. At least this will help you to determine whether or not the sound balances - and is what you want.

For those who are unfamiliar with the stop-list of the instrument in question, here is a link to the NPOR survey for this church:

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=N02325
 
Last edited:
Top